Although most people know of Subaru as one of the safest automakers in the industry, they haven’t given up on trying to improve their technology yet, and at the Geneva Motor Show Nobuhiko Marakami, the head of Subaru was on record saying that they were hoping to become the number one automaker for safety in the industry. This shows that the company is modest and that they have major goals for improvements in the future. While at the motor show the main highlights were of Subaru’s new Eyesight safety system. The system is designed to make driving even safer and Subaru is hoping that it will help make their vehicles the safest in the industry.

Subaru’s new Eyesight system is designed to help drivers avoid crashing altogether and should offer more proactive protection to drivers. It’s the type of technology that will go from trying to minimize damage done after a crash, and simply tries to get rid of crashing all together.

Already at the Top

Subaru is one of the safest automakers in the industry currently, and they aren’t satisfied with that position. They want to continue improving safety features and to get even farther ahead of competitors. Subaru is the only automaker to receive a Top Safety Pick rating on all their lineup from the IIHS. Not only did the automaker accomplish this impressive feat in the last year, but it’s been doing in for the past five years.

Building on Existing Trust

Even though that Subaru knows they are one of the safest car makers in the auto world, they don’t want to lose the trust they currently have with customers. The best way to maintain trust is to keep producing top level products in the future, and that’s exactly what the automaker plans on doing. They are adding a range of new features to enhance their vehicles, but a great deal of research and development money goes into safety features and improvements and that really shows with all of the awards that the automaker has earned in the past.

Lower Insurance Premiums

If Subaru and other automakers are able to create vehicles that are better at avoiding crashes autonomously there’s a good chance that accident rates will go down and with them insurance premiums. This means that owning a vehicle will be more affordable and owners will be able to enjoy paying less for their cars each month. Not only will insurance rates go down, but car repairs will as well with less collisions to worry about.

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (FHI), manufacturer of Subaru automobiles, announced that the award for the highest standard of safety, Top Safety Pick+, has been awarded to the 2014 Subaru Legacy, Outback and Forester, equipped with Subaru’s EyeSight driving assist system. All three models also received the highest possible rating of superior front crash prevention while the 2014 Impreza (except WRX) and Subaru XV Crosstrek have each earned a 2014 Top Safety Pick rating.

The EyeSight was the first system ever to use only stereo camera technology to detect the presence of pedestrians and cyclists. Since its Japanese debut in May 2008, features available on this system have been highly praised; they included pre-collision braking control and all-speed range adaptive cruise control tracking function. It stops the vehicle if it detects a risk of frontal collision, thereby avoiding the collision or reducing collision damage. In all tested vehicles, only the EyeSight-equipped Legacy, Outback and Forester avoided collision in the front crash prevention tests at both 12 mph and 25 mph. All three models earned a 6 out of 6 points for front crash prevention.

IIHS is using new criteria for the awards this year. The Top Safety Pick rating requires good performance in the Institute’s moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint tests and, for the first time, good or acceptable performance in the small overlap front test introduced in 2012. The same level of performance in those tests, along with a basic, advanced or superior rating for front crash prevention, is required for the higher accolade, Top Safety Pick+.

With the small overlap test now incorporated into the basic Top Safety Pick criteria, IIHS is using the Top Safety Pick+ designation to reward manufacturers that provide the next level of safety. This year, that means vehicles that not only protect their occupants in a crash but also have systems that can prevent or mitigate front-to-rear crashes. Front crash prevention, which includes both warning systems and automatic braking, is intended to help inattentive drivers avoid rear-ending a stopped or slower moving vehicle in front of them.

Visit Subaru Pacific today to check out any one of the 2014 IIHS Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ award winners!